Recumbents

Surprise

After a long day of steering, rowing, waiting and some more steering I went home around 7 PM by velomobile. The bike was feeling up to it because I reached speeds of 40 km/h (and more). But first I had to get out of the city. Next to the Paterswoldseweg there is a separate cycle path and between that and the main road there are parked cars. Not a ideal situation where you have to keep a very close eye for turning drivers. Tonight I was surprised by one of those turning drivers, but fortunately he saw me which prevented a collision.

1700 euro for Villa Joep

For Roll over America I found a number of sponsors who wanted to sponsor me for a number cents per kilometer. Not for myself, but for Villa Joep who goes to battle against Neuroblastoma cancer. Eventually the fantastic amount of 1700 euro's was given. Some time ago I drank some coffee / tea with Jeanine, Regional manager of Villa Joep.

Cheating my way to 55 km/h

Yesterday I was so happy with the sound of my bike (or actually the lack of sound) that I forgot to mention the following. When I left Sinner Bikes Arjen asked me if I've ever ridding in a electric assist Mango. Well no I haven't, so this was a good opportunity. The bike was well adjusted to my length so I could just hop in and go. Arjen put the assist, which is mounted in the pedals, on my maximum sport setting. My first push on the pedals propelled me forward. Okay... this takes a bit of getting used to. But it's cool. Within a few seconds I reached 30 km/h.

Quiet please

Because the pins of the velcro strips of my foam cover came loose I decided to visit Sinner Bikes after my weekly rowing for a new pin. A 5 minute job and because of the good service it was free. I also was looking to put something between my headlight and the body of my bike. When I'm riding on uneven terrain, cobble stone roads in particular, it makes a hell of a lot of noise. So I was searching to put something in between. And there was Felix with the brilliant idea to put a piece of inner tube around the headlight.

Groningen's Backyard and some maintenance

What's this? Does Groningen have a backyard, and I'm maintaining it? Relax, it's about a new TV show which will air spring 2012 on local TV. I've been asked to help and think about sketches and finding characters. Saturday afternoon there was some kind of 'audition' where we could try stuff out on a couch (no, don't overthink it). Basically it came down to us picking out a piece of wardrobe and trying to find our character and sit on the couch to see how it looks on camera. It all went pretty well and the next week I'll hear if I 'got the job'.

My contribution to Cycle Video Day 2011

Last Monday it was Cycle Video Day and that meant making a video of your daily ride. The result of my ride can be viewed down here. I made the choice to add live commentary to my ride. A good call because I'm the only one so far. If you want to look at videos of other riders, just take a look at the overview page.

ROAM photos and more...

It took a while for the Roll over America photos to be posted but their all sorted and uploaded now. There were quite a number of them so I had to make a (small) selection. I also have over one terabyte of videos, but that's going to take well after Christmas to all be sorted and edited I guess.

I also have a bunch of photos from the two weeks I spent in Washington, DC and New York, NY.

Join me in the Cycle Video Day

This morning when I woke up I saw that YouTube user gaz545 had posted a new clip. During the 13 weeks that he couldn't cycle because of his broken clavicle he came up with the idea to have a Cycle Video Day. It was Magnatom's idea.

Autumn Meeting XII

Last Friday I traveled to campsite De Woensberg in Huizen. This time I took the train and didn't bike there because I could not get a day off from work. Around 8 PM I got off the train in Hilversum and found my way to the campsite. It was dark but my Busch & Muller Ixon IQ Speed illuminated the road perfectly and on my way there I only took one wrong turn. On arrival the BBQ was still burning but unfortunately I forgot to bring food. Fortunately there were enough people who would share a sausage, pieces of chicken and some bread. So I didn't went to bed hungry.

Cycling in circles

Last Sunday there was the annualy recumbent competition in Groningen, the Ems-Dollard cup: Groningen-Rutenbrock. Two years ago I visited and watched, but didn't compete due to a achilles tendent injury. This year was different. The day before I picked up my bike which had been on the ocean for four weeks. All that time I haven't cycled and I was curious what my condition would do. I expected to end up somewhere in the middle, but unfortunately that was not the case... I ended in the last 30%. I blame the fact that the week before (and I still am) a little ill.